Doxycycline for rosacea

Doxycycline is a common treatment for rosacea. Oracea and Periostat are two of the brand name options.

This is another treatment aimed, they think, at inflammation. Since it also may help with acne, it might take care of two problems in one.

Doxycycline has been used for acne forever. I even took it as a teenager and in college. So it's no secret that it helps decrease inflammation, but in the past, it was used in higher doses, like 50-100 mg daily. That was before a lot of research was conducted on antibiotic resistance and optimal dosing for acne and rosacea.

I think it worked better for my acne than it did for my rosacea. I still had redness and bumpiness. To be fair, though, I paid no attention to my diet back then, and I drank soda a lot. So perhaps if I had made some changes to how much sugar I ate, I would have seen a better outcome to both my acne and rosacea. I don't know how well any treatment can work when you keep pouring fuel on the fire.

In clinical trials, Oracea was well-tolerated, and about 80% of people were satisfied with the results. However, it can make you more sensitive to the sun, so you will need to be careful about being outside without sunscreen.

Technically, it is an antibiotic. The manufacturer claims it is not, but that's just semantics. At the low dose studied for rosacea, it has no measurable antibiotic effect, but it still has anti-inflammatory effects. If you have a lot of visible blood vessels, called telangiectasias, it might not completely eliminate them, but the redness and bumpiness may be decreased.

As a pharmacist, I'm not entirely sold on the idea that taking an antibiotic, even low-dose, will never lead to antibiotic resistance. Especially since this is the kind of condition that you have to treat for the rest of your life. But I also know that during a bad flare-up, I'll do almost anything!

Oracea is very expensive, and if your prescription plan doesn’t cover it, you might be looking for other options. Here is a link to a coupon. The advantage to Oracea is that it’s a once-a-day delayed-release formula, and it’s low-dose. But if you need a cheaper option, you could try a generic twice a day instead, like generic Periostat. Even once a day may work for you.

While once a day Oracea is certainly an easy option, for the price, taking the generic once or twice a day is a more budget-friendly idea. Or try to get it under control with changes to your diet instead.